Tau Prisoners
by TheZadak
Summary: After a loss on the field of battle a Tau Pathfinder is taken captive by a band of Noise Marines. Will she survive the experience or will the Noise Marines destroy her. A short story and my first on this site, it's more or less finished, so if you read it, please leave a review.
1. Chapter 1

_"Even those with little presence in the warp can fall to its effects in realspace. The pleasures of the flesh are alluring to all who feel them." _– Nidhiki, Sorcerer, Knights of Ecstasy, 037.M41

* * *

Kaida was desperate to find somewhere to hide. She was scrabbling around the ruins desperately to get away from the giant Space Marines. She spotted a tower and decided that it would be a good idea to hide at the top; maybe they wouldn't look up there.

Her entire team was dead, killed by the few Space Marines that arrived by transport tanks, right into the heat of battle. The fight was short; the Marines exited their transports in dark purple and gold armour then unleashed all their fire power. The Marine guns' power was nothing overwhelming for the most part, but the sound it made was terrifying, Kaida's ears were still ringing from the volume. These guns would unleash the most incredible high pitched screech with a gigantic shockwave of bass at regular intervals. It must have been the sound itself that caused the damage, there were no explosions or impacts that one would expect from incoming fire.

Her pathfinder team was part of a rear guard contingent, sent to keep the main force safe from any flanking manoeuvres. Her team was there to act as a support for the two fire warrior squads that they were with. She was one of six pathfinders whose job it was to guide the sights of the fire warriors' rifles with markerlights, if she did her job right the fire warriors would rarely miss and even space marines would fall under the fire power. But markerlights are difficult to use and require the user to stay very calm to keep still. She couldn't stay calm and focused when the shockwave of sound hit her location. Not only did the sound burst into her ears and nearly deafen her, but it attacked her head like a mining drill boring its way into the centre of her brain. That, and her cover was being eaten away by the destructive force of the guns. While she ran for cover with her team dead or dying she knew the fire warrior teams also had to deal with the invasive screech from the marines, not only that but they were operating with no markerlights. Fire Warriors are well trained but they are trained to use the markerlights to provide maximum efficiency. Before the battle was over, Kaida knew that with her team scattered, the Fire Warriors would not be able to overcome the marines, and the battle would be lost.

Kaida could now only hope that in the main battle, Aun'Esa would lead the rest of the Cadre to victory. She had great faith in the Ethereal, as any member of the Fire Caste should, but this time she could feel it, a foreboding feeling in her gut that the others in the Cadre had not managed to keep the other Space marines at bay. "No!" she thought, "Do not doubt the greater good, our cause will always win through." She tried to convince herself that the Cadre would defeat the super humans but, doubt had crept into her mind.

Kaida had managed to scale the tower, her light pathfinder armour did not get in the way and she would not have been able to climb the tower any easier if she was not wearing armour at all. While she was careful to keep her head down, she looked over the scene of the battle and at the Space Marines, what were they doing? They were walking about the dead and talking to each other. This was what worried Kaida the most; the Marines were acting casually with no sense of urgency, no sense of distress, it was clear that they were not being called away to the other part of the battle. She could not hear the sounds of battle coming from far away, her ears were still ringing from the fight but she could tell there were no gunshots coming from the distance.

The Marines were talking with each other and Kaida could understand what they were saying. She had been a volunteer to learn the Imperium's language and she had taken to it rather well, a lot better than much of the rest of her class.

"Reptile!" called one of the marines, with a cold metallic voice, it must have been the sound of his voice distorted by his helmet.

The one with the sword who was close to Kaida's position looked round. His armour was purple with gold trim, his left shoulder pad was pink, maybe this denoted rank or something.

" I'm getting word from Esskrimar and Irrississ that they have been victorious and have taken minimal losses."

"That is good to hear, brother, any word on a prize?"

"Esskrimar says his catch is very impressive."

"Then ours will have to be better," said the Marine with the sword, maybe it was rivalry.

"Yes, Reptile," replied the lower ranked marine, like finding a better prize was a mission all on its own.

This "Reptile" was a high ranking Space Marine, Kaida remembered him leading the attack, standing strong and being totally indomitable. She also remembers him cutting down her Kadre with his sword; he had been trained in the arts of close combat and no doubt had many decades of combat experience. In the battle he ran forward, killing Fire Warrior after Fire Warrior, friend after friend. She HATED this marine. He removed his helmet, to reveal a bald head with very sharp features. He stood for a moment, rearranging the pink hairs in his helmet plume; then he paused. Kaida had moved her foot, just to improve her balance, surely he couldn't have heard that, even Kaida didn't hear any sound when she moved her foot that tiny amount.

He looked up at Kaida's hiding spot in the tower, he did hear it, she knew Marines were good, but that was impossible, no one can hear like that. She ducked her head as soon as the Marine laid eyes upon her.

"There is someone up there, a live one." He said to the nearest marine.

"Are you sure?"

"Do not doubt me brother."

"How should we get it down here?"

"I don't think we can scale the ruin," said Reptile, thinking aloud.

"I could..."

"It's not your acrobatic ability that I call into question, Narcius," explained Reptile, "It is the structural integrity of the ruin that gives me cause for concern. It would not take the weight of an Asartes."

"We could bring it down," suggested Narcius, "it would take no more than a well placed krak grenade to bring the whole tower down."

"It's a good thought..." Reptile then whispered into the side of Narcius' helmet, it was too quiet for Kaida to hear. He then went to the tower with a grenade in hand; he then slapped it into place on one of the walls. Kaida thought this was it, the tower would come crashing down and she would be broken from the fall, then the Marines would take her prisoner in the name of their "Emperor". This would not be a fate that would help the cause of the greater good.

The grenade still hadn't gone off, what were they waiting for. Reptile moved back and looked up at her position, she ducked her head again, but she knew it was useless, they already knew where she was. "We are taking you with us, Tau, no matter what happens."

Kaida said nothing, as much as she would want to deny it, she was not going to escape them. She sat up to look at Reptile, acknowledging what he said. She also looked over the small battle zone and could see other Marines checking dead Fire Warriors, and executing the injured with their boot, or some other grizzly method. "I will however, offer you a deal," continued Reptile, "If you climb down from the tower now, we will not destroy it and you will not be injured. If you refuse to come with us, then I pull the pin, this tower comes crashing down, you end up with many broken bones and your time with us is a lot more unpleasant."

Kaida didn't need long to think. You tend to think quicker when what you are in is rigged to explode. She began to climb down.

"I knew you would see sense," said Reptile as he watched her climb down the tower.

Narcius turned to Reptile, "That is quite a find. Maybe you will have Esskrimar beaten after all."

Reptile held out his hand to take Kaida's as if he was offering some polite service to a noble. "Our unit deserves the recognition, don't you think."

Kaida took the hand of Reptile, in fear of what might happen to her if she refused. She then used his hand to support herself for the last large step down.

As they walked along, Kaida saw that all her friends were dead or dying all around her, but what struck her the most was the smell. The air stank of blood and death, and it all came from her friends; people she had trained with, eaten with, and joked with only the night before. And here she was holding the hand of the man that made it all happen; that led the victorious enemy forces.

He then led her to the armoured transport that the Marines arrived in. It was the same colour violet as the Marines' body armour. He was holding the terrified Kaida like a parent may hold a child in an unfamiliar place. Reptile hit the door of the transport with his fist, it then opened. "What is your name, girl?" asked Reptile.

Kaida has had her helmet on since before the battle started; humans normally have difficulty telling the Tau genders apart, especially if in full battle gear, this marine must have good eyes. "Kaida," she replied shakily, still worried about what might happen to her if she refused something from these marines.

"Get in here, Kaida," said reptile as he gestured for her to get into the transport, "Stay in the Rhino, you'll be on our ship soon enough." Kaida got in to the "rhino" and the door slowly closed behind her. Reptile kept his eyes fixed on her as the door closed. "Don't be scared," he said just before the door slammed shut.

The rhino was empty, she was all alone in there. There was enough light to dimly illuminate her surroundings and it was a very basic interior, with little in the way of gadgets, it seemed to be little more than a metal box where the marines would be carried into battle. She could see where the walls had been repaired from battles long past with plates of metal welded in place to cover up holes and the floor where the marines would stand before running out the door had been worn down smooth. This rhino had seen a lot of action.

"What kind of thing was that to say to a prisoner?" thought Kaida, "Don't be scared?" The very absurdity of it all made Kaida forget about the fear that had made her walk with the marine and willingly get into the rhino. The situation got real again when she noticed a small vent in the corner start to pump fumes into the vehicle. Kaida hurriedly looked around for a release switch or valve, or something to open a door or a hatch. But there was no time, before Kaida found anything useful, she lost consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Kaida felt a cold metal surface against the side of her head; her helmet had been removed. She sat up and opened her eyes to find that she was in a small room, there was a large bed on one side and on the other side, several shelves displaying all manner of things: helmets, weapons, skulls. She could feel the light breeze of air circulating through from the ventilation; she felt herself all over to make sure she was unharmed, it seemed so. The room vibrated with the ambient sound of a massive engine, life support systems and other background noises Kaida had come to associate with space travel. She was in a cabin on a space ship; not a Tau space ship though, this was a human ship. The bed was very big and the door was closed, this was probably a space marine cabin being used to keep the prisoners in place.

Kaida couldn't believe her eyes, on the bed sat three figures one was, her grace, Aun'Esa, the other two were fire warriors that Kaida didn't personally know. Immediately Kaida bowed her head, and moved her feet round into a kneeling position.

"You don't need to kneel for me, Pathfinder," said the ethereal calmly. Aun'Esa sat on the bed with her legs crossed, she stayed calm and acted as if everything would be OK. The other two fire warriors, both male, had been sitting and looked like they had been listening very intently to whatever the Ethereal had been saying.

Kaida stayed kneeling, "I must apologize for our teams' failure. We failed to stop the space marines. They massacred our position."

The fire warrior on the bed who had a big gash across the side of his face and was holding his left shoulder asked callously, "If the teams you were with were massacred, how come you are unharmed?"

Kaida didn't answer, but she knew he had a point. She was totally uninjured, from what she could tell. She knew that this didn't look good, the fire caste is to fight to the end for the cause of the greater good. It looked like Kaida ran without fighting. This was not true; she did her duty until nothing could save her unit from total destruction.

Aun'Esa broke the tension, "Sit with us, Pathfinder." Kaida got up and sat next to the other members of the fire caste so she could be enlightened by the ethereal herself. "I have failed you all in battle, noble fire warriors, but the greater good will prevail, even in this, darkest of situations." Her voice was comforting, wise and authoritative, only a fool would refuse to listen to her. "I have spotted no imperial symbolism, so these marines may be renegade. This means that they might not follow the ways of the human god-emperor, and maybe their minds can be moulded. Can you imagine what an asset these marines would be to the Tau Empire?"

None of the fire caste replied; no reply is needed when an ethereal speaks reason. Aun'Esa continued, "Fighting is not the answer here. They will kill any of us if we try anything foolish, just use your words and the wisdom of the greater good will shine through; they will see the logic in our cause."

The unmistakably heavy footsteps of space marines could be heard coming to the door, all the Tau on the bed turned to see who was going to open the door and what they would do with the prisoners.

Aun'Esa added one more note of caution before they entered, "do what they say, but always remember our cause is righteous, believe in it and they will see it to be right as well."

The door unlocked with a metallic "clunk" and in walked two space marines in full armour except for their helmets, they appeared to be carrying no weapons.

One was Reptile, now Kaida could see him fully with her own eyes; he had sharp, pointy features and a fine example of a human face, except for several things; Kaida didn't notice them before. He had no external ears; just holes where the ears of a human should be and his green eyes had slit pupils. A cunning smile crept up one side of his face when he caught Kaida looking at him. She immediately looked away.

The other marine was a brutish figure, he had a paler complexion than Reptile and his scalp was covered in an elaborate pattern of purple tattoos.

This other marine barked out the order, "On your feet!" Kaida immediately obeyed, she slipped off the bed and stood up in front of the marines. Aun'esa, while clambering off the bed repeated the order in Tau, so the other fire warriors could also obey.

"You said you found a good prize, Esskrimar?" inquired Reptile.

"I found their leader," smiled the other marine, "I assume yours is one of the grunts."

Reptile then looked at Kaida, "The young lady here came with us back to the ship."

"Young lady?" sniggered Esskrimar. "Which one is that?"

Reptile sighed, "The one with the 'Y' shape on her head."

"Is that how you tell them apart?" said Esskrimar. "If it wasn't for that, there would be no way to tell them apart at all."

"You can't see the differences?" asked Reptile.

"No. Not with the armour anyway. It's an ugly species, don't you think?"

"I think they are a beautiful race," commented Reptile.

Esskrimar suddenly moved round to face Reptile, "You would think that, wouldn't you!" Esskrimar snapped, a deep seeded hatred had suddenly been awakened, seemingly out of nowhere. "I know your history."

Reptile remained still and calm. "Calm down, brother." Esskrimar immediately stood back. "Remember the Banshees?" asked Reptile softly. "That would never have happened without you."

"And you made it one of the most glorious moments in my memory," smiled Esskrimar. He then looked over the Tau prisoners, inspecting them, as he walked around them. Kaida felt every footstep he took, when he walked near the whole floor seemed to bend to his weight.

To Kaida's surprise and dread, Aun'Esa took a deep breath and broke the silence. "There are no symbols of the Human Emperor on this ship."

"You dare speak out of turn?" snapped Esskrimar, as he immediately stopped pacing round the captives, and glared at the Ethereal.

"Don't be so quick to silence, brother," said Reptile. "What do you have to say, Tau?"

Aun'Esa bravely continued, "As there are no imperial symbols here, I was thinking that you are not part of the Imperium." Aun'Esa was clearly not as well practiced in Gothic as Kaida, a heavy Tau accent distorted her speech.

"You are very observant." complimented Reptile.

"Good," said Aun'Esa with a heavy exhale. "May I suggest a cultural exchange? So you can see the merits of our ways and promises of the greater good."

"What makes you think we'll be interested?" asked Esskrimar.

"Because you are warriors without a cause," remarked the Ethereal, "what greater purpose could there be than fighting for the greater good of the Tau empire."

Esskrimar looked over at Reptile, "We don't need a cause," he stated firmly. Esskrimar looked around the room some more, then lunged suddenly with his fist at Kaida. She let out a scream and cowered in fear covering her face. She looked again, and the marine had stopped with his hand just short of her head. He withdrew, laughing to himself "You found a real winner with this one, Reptile! She's got all the courage of a small child." Esskrimar looked back at Reptile "I'm sick of this room, brother; it reminds me of those we have lost."

"Shall we leave?" asked Reptile.

"Yes." stated, Esskrimar. "Would you like to take their leader?"

Reptile gave another look at Kaida and gave her a smile. "No, I prefer the Warrior."

"Suit yourself," said Esskrimar. "I'll take this one then; it is my catch after all." He walked over to the ethereal and grabbed her by the arm; he nearly pulled her off her feet as he went to leave the room with her. The fire warriors were distressed by this, but Aun'Esa said to them on her way out, "I will share my wisdom and he will see the truth. Don't be worried."

Reptile waited for the other marine to leave then reached out to the pathfinder, "Take my hand, Kaida."

She looked at his hand and knew that if she took it, the fire warriors would think that she was submissive, but if she refused, who knows what these renegade marines would do. She placed her hand in his massive grasp, he didn't grip her tightly, he simply led her out of the room. Kaida made two steps for every step that Reptile made; he was so much bigger than her, so big that she felt like an infant holding his hand.


	3. Chapter 3

Reptile led Kaida by hand down a narrow hallway with identical doors lining the walls on either side. She looked back and caught sight of Aun'Esa being dragged away by Esskrimar and doubt began to creep into Kaida's mind again. Was there any way Kaida could talk to the marines? And if she could, surely they wouldn't accept the greater good. Maybe they will listen to the wisdom of the ethereal; even savage renegade marines will take heed of teachings so wise.

Reptile led her into one of the rooms, it was identical to the room she had come from in terms of layout, but it had different trinkets on display. On the top shelf there was a set of strange helmets from around the galaxy, on the shelf below; there was a sword, not of human origin, and an empty space marine plasma gun. These were probably mementoes or trophies from battles long ago. The door closed and she spotted her own helmet. It was blue, as is the uniform colour of warriors from her Sept, and it had the unmistakably long tail to it that all pathfinder helmets have.

"You recognize it?" asked Reptile, clearly referring to her helmet. Kaida simply looked up at him, as he continued, "I like it, it's got a nice shape to it, and the technology in the optics is very impressive. I'm afraid my head is a little too big to try it on myself."

Kaida failed to laugh at the joke.

"I like your hair; it's a shame that it was hidden under the helmet."

Kaida didn't know how to take a compliment from her captor, she reached round to feel her hair; she was shaved bald except for her red pony tail at the back of her head, a common hair style among Tau.

"This is my cabin. This is where I sleep, where I keep my personal belongings and for today, this is where I entertain guests."

Kaida remained quiet.

"I have been wearing armour for too long." He held his finger against a box on the wall and spoke into it, "I want to remove my armour, send someone up."

A much distorted voice answered back, Kaida couldn't make it out over the static.

"Now, shall we have a conversation?" asked Reptile as he sat down on his bed.

"What?" asked Kaida, very timidly.

"You speak Gothic, at least you seem to understand it well enough. And I have never spoken with a member of your species before." Reptile waited for Kaida to say something, but he was met with nothing but nervous silence from the pathfinder. "Have you ever spoken to an astartes before?"

Kaida looked at Reptile in confusion.

"'Astartes' means 'Space Marine'" clarified Reptile.

Kaida shook her head.

"Have you ever spoken to a human before?"

Kaida let out some words in the shakiest of whispers, "I learned Gothic from a human."

Kaida was about to repeat what she said louder when Reptile said, "That makes sense," she thought she spoke too faintly, but Reptile heard just fine. He continued, "He taught you well, you don't have the same strong accent that your leader has."

Kaida didn't reply.

"You must be worried about her," said Reptile, "An ethereal, isn't she?" Kaida nodded. "You have no reason for concern; Esskrimar may look like a brute but he can handle things with care when he is asked, although he would not be interested in conversation like I am." This failed to ease her worries for Aun'Esa's safety.

"I fear all the talk of your 'greater good' will fall on deaf ears on this ship," explained Reptile. "We have no use for godless ideology here."

Kaida still said nothing, so Reptile filled the silence again, "There was doubt in her voice; she didn't believe in what she was saying, but how would you ever see that." He paused for a moment and leaned closer to Kaida. "Let me ask you, would you ever question an ethereal if you thought they were wrong?"

Kaida couldn't comprehend the idea of an Ethereal being wrong, in her mind it just didn't happen, they were beings of infinite wisdom and saw reason in all things. She didn't continue the conversation.

Reptile once again broke the silence, "You don't speak much, and I think I understand why."

"You killed my team," she could feel her emotions getting the better of her, just by mentioning her squad the faces of the friends she had lost flashed across her mind.

"I did," said Reptile, "and I know exactly how you feel. Do you wish that you had been with them and fought to the end?"

Kaida nodded.

"Do you hate me and my team more than anything in the galaxy?"

Kaida nodded again.

"Yes, I know that feeling," said Reptile thoughtfully "and you're scared as well; terrified that I might do some manner of horrible thing to you."

Kaida didn't want to look weak in front of her captor, but she had to give him an answer. "Yes."

"Let me put you at ease about that, you will not be harmed in my company, I promise you." Reptile gazed at Kaida, he had a look of total sincerity on his face.

Moments of nothing but listening to the constant low rumble of the ship's engine, the occasional footsteps outside the door and staring into the face of Kaida's imposing captor. Then there came a tapping from the door. "Enter," said Reptile.

Four humans came in. They were normal humans, not hulking space marines, two were male and two were female. They were wearing black and purple robes with fine and intricate trim, each one of them had their right breast exposed and walked barefoot. They knew the routine for undressing Reptile, they lifted the big parts of armour, like the shoulder pads and the back pack, off one by one, and could slip off the smaller pieces around his arms with ease.

Reptile watched the servants briefly, and then looked back at Kaida as he stood up so the humans could remove all his armour. "There is no need for battle dress anymore," he told her, "you should take your armour off as well. We should have something more fitting for you here."

"You want me to undress?" asked Kaida in disbelief.

"It's an order," said Reptile, reaffirming his dominance over the Tau captive.

Thoughts of the violence the space marine would bring down on her if she resisted flooded Kaida's mind; she did what he said without resisting. She released the shoulder catches for her breastplate and caught it before it clattered to the ground; she then did the same for her back armour. It was then a simple task of slipping off her small pathfinder pauldrons and light gauntlets over her gloved hands. That's all it took for Kaida to remove her armour. She looked back at Reptile; he was still being worked on. The hard plates of his armour had been removed. Now the humans were working on a mechanical layer of the armour.

"You are not finished," said Reptile, eyes fixed on Kaida.

One of the human servants spoke up, "Apologies my lord. The interface layer will be off momentarily."

"I was talking to my guest." Reptile's gaze didn't leave his captive, but a smile did creep across his face.

Kaida knew what he wanted, he wanted her to be naked, naked along with him. 'Is this normal for a space marine?' she thought. But she didn't hesitate. She pulled off her gloves one by one, and then slid her top over her head. She then worked her boots over her hooves, then her baggy pathfinder trousers. She then stopped with only a vest and shorts covering her decency, waiting for as long as she could for Reptile to say to stop.

Reptile was slipping out of his interface layer with the aid of his servants. Kaida could see his bare body for the first time, she had not seen any anatomical pictures of Space Marines during her education. This could be the first time a Tau has seen a living space marine outside his armour. He was still massive; his entire body was bound in highly developed muscle, which was so well defined by the light glinting off every ripple of his physique. All over his body were small holes; they looked like electrical nodes for interfacing with his armour. "Now you can see me," said Reptile, the servants moved away so Kaida could see Reptile's entire naked form. "What do you think?"

Kaida didn't answer, out of her clothes, she felt more vulnerable than ever.

"The astartes were created to be gods among men," continued Reptile, "and we are, in both presence and combat ability."

One of the female servants spoke, "You are magnificent, my lord."

Kaida still didn't answer; Reptile gave her the order, "Continue undressing, I want to see all of you."

She slowly slipped off her vest and dropped it down, then slid her shorts off her hips, and stepped out of them when they landed on the ground. She stood trying to cover herself with her arms; she was feeling extreme fear at the thought of being so vulnerable, not only that, but Reptile and his servants were now staring at her naked body as if it was a specimen on display in some kind of living museum or a zoo.

"Beautiful," said reptile with a smile, he seemed to be sincere and Kaida could see now that maybe, just maybe, Reptile wouldn't hurt her.

"She's very small." dismissed one of the female servants. "Her chest is flat and her hips are too thin." The small amount of comfort Kaida got from Reptile left her.

"You speak out of turn," snapped Reptile at the servant. "I'm done with you; you have my leave to go." The human servants swiftly left the room, leaving the armour behind.

The door closed with a slam and when the gust of air blown in by the door sent a chill down the spine of the young Tau pathfinder, she found that the whole atmosphere of the room changed. She was naked and alone with the man that lead the fight that got her entire team killed. He was domineering in his appearance. The way he had been looking at Kaida finally made sense to her; this was how it was going to end. She was going to die when this hulk rapes her, he would crush her, beat her, maybe she would live through it; maybe she would live out her days as Reptile's play thing. This is why she was brought to his cabin, so he could have his way with her. No more fighting for the greater good, no more honour, no more dignity, only shame until death. Kaida felt a tear creep down her face, but she wiped it away quickly so Reptile wouldn't see; then moved her arm quickly back to cover herself. One last look at Reptile was enough, the lump in her throat grew and she could stand the sight of his naked body no more; she pulled her gaze away and closed her eyes, squeezing yet more tears onto her face.

Then warmth, covering, something had been laid over her shoulders. She grasped it and pulled it around herself, covering her body and keeping it warm, it was lined in fur and was a soft and welcome relief against her cold skin. She looked up to see who had given her this gift, it could have only been one person but she could scarcely believe it, she needed to see it. Reptile was standing over her. She looked up at him as he walked over to his footlocker to retrieve a robe of his own. "Thank you," said Kaida softly.

"You were getting cold," said Reptile, "and you are my guest." as he slipped his own robe over his head.

Kaida spoke nervously again, "I'm your prisoner."

Reptile stood in front of Kaida and sat down on the floor, Kaida took a step back to avoid his feet coming forwards. He was just below eyelevel with her, "I killed your squad, this is true. But I chose to bring you back, and now you are not my enemy."

"You won't hurt me?" asked Kaida.

"I will look after you, for as long as you are under my protection."

"I thought Space Marines were all savages."

Reptile laughed, "Is that what they told you about us in Tau school; what else did they tell you about us?"

"They said you were to be feared in combat, and you worship the human emperor." The smile dropped from Reptile's face. "But you are not a part of the Imperium, so I don't think you do worship the emperor." What she said echoed the words spoken by the ethereal.

"You are right." said Reptile "Do you know who we fight for?"

Kaida very cautiously said "No," as she was unsure as to whether she wanted to know the answer.

"We are called the Knights of Ecstasy, our origins lie in the legion of the Emporer's Children; we are full in our devotion to Slaanesh," explained Reptile.

This meant nothing to Kaida, she just stared blankly at Reptile.

"Maybe you have heard of the forces of Chaos," he continued.

Alarm bells started ringing in her head, "Chaos!" she exclaimed, as she took some steps back from Reptile. She remembered that her teachers had always said that the Water Caste would seek out diplomatic relations with enemies before an engagement; all enemies except, Tyranids, Orks and Chaos.

"Not all Chaos is the same, Kaida" argued Reptile, "they might have taught you about the bloodthirsty forces of Khorne, or the forces of Nurgle who spread decay and disease wherever they go, or maybe the forces of Tzeench who dabble in sorcery and great elaborate schemes. We devote our selves to Slaanesh and he gives us the greatest pleasures from the most extraordinary sensations imaginable. We do not kill and maim everyone we come across like the other parts of Chaos, and we will not kill you just for being an alien like the forces of the Imperium."

The initial shock of 'Chaos' had left Kaida, she didn't remember enough from her education to know fully what chaos meant, and she was doubtful that they even told her the full story.

"Kaida," began Reptile with a smile, "You are so young, you can't possibly understand everything Slaanesh can offer you."

"Is Slaanesh your god?" asked Kaida carefully.

"Yes," said Reptile, "but no false god like the God Emperor, Slaanesh and his power is real and divine beyond doubt. Maybe you will hear the music we play in praise of Slaanesh; maybe you will see the creations that are made here in praise of him; maybe you will experience all the pleasures Slaanesh has to offer you."


	4. Chapter 4

Kaida was allowed to put on her clothes again, but not her armour and Reptile gave her the cloak to take back to the cabin she was in before. After being led there, she saw that one of the fire warriors was already there, it was clear that he had been taken out of the room; he was topless and covered in bruises. They weren't big bruises that you would expect from violence with space marines, maybe they were inflicted by humans. He was fit and strong as any fire warrior should be, but the memory of Reptile's extreme figure made this tau's body look tiny in comparison. The fire warrior was uninjured when Kaida saw him before; she now wanted to know what happened to him.

The door closed behind Kaida, and she started with the questions. "What happened to you? You look awful."

"I've been fighting," said the fire warrior. He started doing practice punches to an invisible target in front of him. "One of the Marines took me away and forced me to fight humans. They watched the fights, and they enjoyed it."

Maybe Kaida was right about marines being brutes. "That's so savage," she commented.

"I enjoyed it," said the fire warrior. This Kaida did not expect, "It's exciting, you know, it's a rush. Every time I landed a punch there was a brutal satisfaction to it. Every time I was hit, it was like someone releasing pressure in my body, like steam from a valve."

"Have you always liked fighting?" asked Kaida, wondering if they had brainwashed him or something.

"I enjoyed our close combat training, what little of it there was; but now I just want to be in that ring again." He stopped rehearsing his combat moves, "What about you? Where did you get that cloak?"

"I got it from Reptile."

"Reptile?"

"He's the Marine that came for me. He didn't make me fight or anything..."

"What did he do with you?" interrupted the fire warrior.

Kaida was embarrassed; she didn't want to give him the full story. "He just... talked to me; he told me about the space marines on this ship."

"Anything useful?"

Kaida shared her true feelings about the situation, "I don't think what I learned will change anything, we're stuck here with no way of contacting our forces, and I don't think the Marines are just going to let us go."

"Aun'Esa said they can be turned to the greater good," argued the fire warrior. "She would only tell us the truth and would only give us the wisest advice."

"Yes," agreed Kaida with a sigh, "We should wait for something, maybe Aun'Esa will be returned to us."

The fire warrior nodded in agreement, and then asked. "What's your name, pathfinder?"

"Kaida," said the pathfinder.

"I am Turo," said the fire warrior as he sat down on the floor, inviting Kaida to do the same. "Tell me what you know about the marines."

Kaida sat in front of him, careful not to step or sit on the cloak. "They are a chapter called the 'Knights of Ecstasy' and they come from the 'Emperor's Children'."

"I thought they were renegades," wondered Turo aloud, "Why do they say they come from the 'Emperor's Children'?"

"I don't know," said Kaida, agreeing to the confusion, "It's really strange. They don't worship the Emperor at all; they worship a god called Slaanesh."

"I think I've heard of Slaanesh."

"It's a Chaos god."

"No..." said Turo, searching his brain for information, "I remember Slaanesh and Eldar being mentioned in the same sentence. Maybe it's an Eldar god?"

"Does it matter though?" said Kaida, "there are no gods."

"So the ethereals have said," confirmed Turo, "It's good to know something about the enemy though."

The door to the cabin swung open and a body of cloth and blue flesh was tossed in; it landed on the floor in a heap. As soon as Kaida and Turo noticed that it was Aun'Esa, they rushed to help her to her feet.

The deep bellow of Esskrimar was heard coming from outside the door, "You talk too much, tau! I don't want your words in my ears anymore."

"If you would only listen, you would be wiser and you would not have a reason to protest," responded Aun'Esa desperately. Esskrimar was having none of it and simply slammed the door.

"Are you unharmed, my Lady?" asked Turo.

The Ethereal looked to be OK, there was no scarring or bruises like on Turo, even her robes were undamaged. "That brute nearly pulled my arm off." She was shaky in her speech, "apart from that, I'll be OK."

"What did they do with you?" asked Kaida.

"He took me away to watch dancing from some normal humans, and then fights between humans, but after I tried to tell him about the greater good he just left me with another marine." She explained, "I kept trying to spread the word, but none of them would listen. The human slaves found me to be a curiosity and stared at me, but even they did not take heed of my words."

Kaida and Turo were relieved to know that the ethereal was safe and unharmed.

"I am cold," Aun'Esa announced, "pathfinder, give me that cloak."

Kaida gave her the cloak with no hesitation.

"This is a fine piece of clothing, sometimes human craftsmanship is better than I expect," commented the Ethereal while donning the cloak. Kaida never took a lot of notice of its design when she had it on, but it was indeed beautifully made; an elaborate pattern was sown into the exterior fabric with incredible detail. Such a cloak was surely worthy of one such as an ethereal.

"We should sleep," said Aun'Esa, "There is no sense in just waiting and talking. We need our energy and our minds in full working order that we can speak sense to these marines."

Kaida decided that there was something that the ethereal should know as soon as possible, "If I may speak, my lady..."

"Go ahead, pathfinder," said the ethereal as she made herself comfortable on the bed.

"I learned that the Marines worship a god called Slaanesh."

The Ethereal froze immediately and looked directly at Kaida. "Then this is worse than I feared. This ship is a place of Chaos."

"Then what do we do?" asked Turo.

"The Marines do not want to listen to us, but logic is our only weapon in this struggle." Aun'Esa did not convey the same confidence as she did only hours earlier; she was stuttering, and shaking with anxiety. "We must dispel their primitive superstitions." She choked as she spoke, nearly giving way to tears, "that's all they are, just superstitions." She composed herself by rearranging her robes and adjusting the cloak Kaida had given her, "but for now, we must sleep. Our other fire warrior companion will be returned to us in time, I'm sure."

Aun'Esa turned round in the bed and wrapped herself up in the cloak. Kaida and Turo did as they were commanded and lay on the floor, not even thinking of disturbing the resting place of the ethereal.

Kaida turned to Turo and whispered "Did you see that, Aun'Esa is scared. Maybe we'll never get out of this."

"I don't know," said Turo. "Maybe we should just sleep; when the marines come again we need to be fully awake, like she said."

Kaida rolled onto her back, the only comfort left being the cold metal floor against her head. Being one of the Fire Caste, she was used to sleeping in rough conditions and the discomfort was not going to stop her from drifting off, not after a day like this.

_Kaida dreamt of a bed. Full of the most attractive naked male tau of all castes that she could imagine. She approached, hoping for intimacy, but she found Aun'Esa in the middle of them all, she had all the men's gazes fixed upon her, as she did nothing but lie in the bed. Aun'Esa opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out but noise, unbearable noise, it was the same cacophony that Kaida remembered from the space marine guns on the battlefield. It filled her head with sound, it was horrible, it was so loud that it forced her to hold her hands up to her head to block out the noise. She looked around and she was the only one that was affected by it, all the other tau watched and listened to Aun'Esa as if they were listening to the most incredible wisdom that ethereals are expected to impart on their subjects._

_The hand of a space marine fell onto Kaida's shoulder; she looked up to find Reptile. She held his hand and walked away from the Tau with him, as they walked away the sound faded. When there was no more sound, Reptile dropped to one knee, and Kaida just jumped to wrap her arms around him and embrace him as her saviour from the noise._

The door to the cabin opened and two large figures came in. Kaida sprang up immediately to see what was going on, the other two Tau rose only moments after. Reptile was one of the figures to come in, still in his robes; the other was another marine in full armour except for the helmet. This one had a full head of thick black hair and a strong well chiselled jaw. He spoke bluntly and directly to Turo and gestured with his hand, "You, come with me," and Turo understood the hand signal and obeyed, he stood up and waited beside the marine.

Reptile offered Kaida his hand, she took it without hesitation and Reptile helped her to her feet. With Kaida standing, Reptile addressed Aun'Esa. "That cloak isn't yours."

The ethereal, who was sitting up with the cloak wrapped around her, took a moment to realise what Reptile was saying to her. "Is it yours?" asked Aun'Esa.

"I gave it to this young lady," said Reptile.

"And she gave it me," said Aun'Esa, "by doing so, she protected me from the cold and provided a small service to the greater good."

Reptile looked down at Kaida, then back at Aun'Esa, "Your robes of office provide more cover for you than all of what either of these two is wearing. Surely it would be of the greater good to let the ones who need it most have the cover, or maybe huddle together with it so you can all benefit from its warmth."Aun'Esa's face started to tremble. Reptile continued, "But no, you keep it for yourself, not only that, but you don't even let the warriors share the bed, despite it being more than big enough for you. They lay on the cold hard floor, while you slept in comfort."

"I'm sorry," Aun'Esa said in the Tau language to the two members of the Fire Caste, she then continued shakily in Gothic for the space marine. "I'm sorry, I was selfish." She fumbled to remove the cloak from her person; and Reptile took it off her before she could give it to him.

"You don't deserve this," said Reptile as he draped the cloak to over Kaida's shoulders, "I expected much more from you."

Kaida was stunned, she had never seen an Ethereal spoken to like that before, she didn't say anything, she just pulled the cloak around herself and walked with Reptile out the room, leaving Aun'Esa alone.

They were walking behind Turo and the other marine. "Where are we going?" she asked Reptile hesitantly.

"One of our Sorcerers wants to see you," he explained, "He believes it was a bad idea to bring you on this ship."


	5. Chapter 5

Kaida, hand in hand with Reptile, was wondering about where they were going. "A sorcerer?" she inquired, not believing in magic, but still curious about the 'primitive superstitions' the marines held on to.

"A psyker," clarified Reptile, "He is gifted with the ability to manipulate the powers of the warp with his mind."

Kaida heard of psykers before, she was always taught that they were mysterious individuals and the warp energies they could wield were very dangerous. Despite what she had been taught, she had no idea what to expect.

"Nidhiki is older than you can imagine, he can remember the heresy itself and the attack on Terra. You know by now that I do not demand formalities, but Nidhiki does. You are to bow and refer to him as 'My Lord,' do you understand?"

Kaida nodded.

"You will need to interpret for your friend; I don't think he speaks Gothic."

They entered through double doors to reveal a dark place, the whole room was cast in shadow and there sat in a throne a massive, imposing figure in violet armour. He appeared much bigger than the other space marines Kaida had seen, the armour being far bulkier and heavier; this must have been the Terminator armour she heard mentioned by tau fire warriors in the past.

There were blue figures all around the giant, Kaida looked at them, but she couldn't focus on them. She kept looking and the more she did, the more they came into focus and the more she liked what she saw. They were tau, the most beautiful tau she had ever seen. She couldn't tell what caste they were from but that didn't matter; these were the most perfect examples of her species that she had ever seen, regardless of caste. They were wearing nearly nothing in the way of clothing, most only wore a purple or pink loin cloth; they were pierced all over with beautiful glinting jewels and etched with elaborate and graceful tattoos of symbolism and icons Kaida didn't recognise. They were all doting this psyker in some way, some were gazing at him in wonder, some were stroking his armour with their hands or their bodies, and one was sitting on his lap whispering into his ear. Why these tau were treating the sorcerer in such a way was impossible to guess.

The Space Marine that Kaida didn't know spoke first, "Lord Nidhiki, we have brought you two prisoners."

The sorcerer looked away from the beautiful tau that was close to him and said, "Good, Drekas. Now leave us." The sorcerer sounded old and frail but his body did not match this description, he was huge. His head was buried in the beautifully decorated and richly adorned armour but the penetrating pink glow of his eyes made sure that his face was not lost in it.

Reptile turned to follow Drekas out of the room, but Nidhiki stopped him, "Not you, Reptile, the handmaidens want me to speak with you too."

"Yes, my lord."

"Weren't there four tau prisoners?"

"Yes, my lord; the warrior that came on board injured fought us every step of the way, so we gave him over to Jeguda," explained Reptile. "We left the ethereal in the room; we think it would be a good idea to use her later."

Nidhiki smiled as he muttered to the tau close to his face, the tau then whispered something back in his ear. He then persisted with Reptile some more, "What will you use the ethereal for?"

"I can't talk about it right now, my lord; perhaps when you are finished with these tau."

Kaida was fixated by the tau surrounding Nidhiki's throne, they were beautiful but as they glared back at Kaida, she could feel their eyes on her, piercing black eyes, she wondered if they were even real.

Nidhiki whispered to the tau on his lap; that tau then got up to lead the others out of the room. As they passed they stroked the body of Reptile, he smiled and watched them as they did; Turo also received similar apparent affection and welcomed it.

One of them approached Kaida and reached inside her cloak to grope her breasts, Kaida moved back but Nidhiki's glare stopped her from resisting out of fear. The unknown tau then stroked her head and declared, "This one has no grasp of the warp, just like all the others, but that does not mean she cannot be influenced in this reality." He didn't seem like any tau Kaida had ever met before; he stared into Kaida's eyes, and past them, like he was looking into the very depths of her being. He paused and turned to look back at Nidhiki, "Keep this one, my love, she could be useful."

One of the others then followed it with "If you have to keep them at all," he said with contempt, "I've seen animals with more to their being."

"You exaggerate," argued Reptile.

"And you would know better?" snarled the strange tau.

"See for yourself," suggested Reptile.

The tau walked towards Kaida with a self righteous and imperious gait, totally unashamed of how naked he was, and grabbed Kaida's head. Seconds passed before she was pushed away when he discarded her from his grasp. The tau then gave a spiteful look to the space marine, and left the room.

Kaida's scalp was sore; she felt it to find a small amount of blood coming from where the strange tau had his fingers, 'Did he have claws,' thought Kaida. 'And how can he say that about his own species? Comparing us to animals is just unthinkable.' She started thinking that maybe these tau were not tau at all, maybe they were a psychic warp trick conjured up by the sorcerer. Kaida was sure that there was something not right about them. With the beautiful tau now gone from the room, the atmosphere in the room felt a little less hostile, but no less tense as Nidhiki stared the three of them down in turn.

The sorcerer's focus fell on Turo, he lifted a massive arm up and pointed to address the fire warrior, "Who is your master?"

Turo of course didn't understand the question, but Kaida was anxiously waiting for an answer from him, hoping he would remember the proper etiquette.

"Kaida," said Reptile, "Translate."

Kaida had briefly forgotten that Turo couldn't speak Gothic, given a few moments of realisation; she followed the order and repeated the question in Tau.

"Aun'Esa and the Ethereals of the Tau Empire," was the answer Turo gave to Kaida.

Kaida didn't relay the information to Nidhiki straight away, instead she spoke Tau to Turo again; "I don't think that's the answer he's looking for."

"I wouldn't say anything else," argued Turo.

Kaida spoke in gothic to relay the message, "He says the ethereals of the Tau Empire are his masters."

Nidhiki pushed harder with the question, "Who is your master on this ship?"

Kaida said in Tau "He wants to know who your master is here."

"Aun'Esa," said Turo simply.

Kaida didn't want to accept the answer, "He wants to hear something else," insisted Kaida.

"Just tell him 'Aun'Esa'," said Turo, "I'm not scared."

She took a deep breath and relayed the message, "He says Aun'Esa is the ethereal that he will follow on this ship."

"And how far would you follow this ethereal?" probed Nidhiki.

"He wants to know how far you would follow Aun'Esa," said Kaida in Tau.

"I would follow her to my death," replied Turo proudly.

"Until death," said Kaida in Gothic, unwilling to persuade Turo to say anything else.

Nidhiki's focus moved across to Kaida, "and what about you, who is so gifted with languages. Who is your master on board this ship?"

Kaida bowed quickly, she was desperate not to forget, and she now hoped that she did not leave her bow too late. Kaida looked at Turo, he probably did not know what the sorcerer was saying; so he wouldn't know about her shame if she said something that wasn't what was expected from a loyal member of the Fire Caste. She looked around at Reptile, who was her keeper as a prisoner, maybe this is what Nidhiki was looking for. "Reptile is my master on this ship."

"I see," said Nidhiki with a frown. He pushed himself off his throne, rising to a terrifying height. He grabbed a metal staff that was leaning against the back of the throne, he lifted it; then proceeded to walk towards Turo very slowly, supporting his immense bulk on his staff. Turo and Kaida watched him as their trepidation turned into confusion; confusion in seeing a massive super soldier using what looked like a walking stick. He then took his staff up in both hands and quicker than anyone could react; he swung it into Turo's head. Turo was knocked to the ground, unconscious from the impact. Nidhiki then turned to aim the staff at Kaida; energy flickered along it, lighting the room in furious flashes of purple and white. The energy extended from the staff and struck her chest.

The sensation it gave was incredible, it did not hurt; it was a feathery tingling that crawled all over her body.

"You are not so hard to read, alien." said the sorcerer. Kaida was trapped by the force of the staff, she couldn't move no matter how hard she tried. The sensation was growing and seemed to move around her body like a living creature. "You value your own life above the ethereal's..." Nidhiki relaxed his staff. It still had energy flowing through it, and Kaida was feeling its touch. "Individuality and independence are rare amongst your species, but you..."

The sensation from the staff slithered around Kaida's body to her crotch; it stopped moving, like it had found what it was looking for. It slid up and down, tickling and massaging. The sensations Kaida was experiencing from the psychic power were increasing, she closed her eyes and took in the feeling, it was all she could do. The cloak dropped from her shoulders and she absorbed herself in the sensual pleasures that were taking over her body. She had never experienced such a rush, no way could sexual pleasure be this good, it was amazing, it was exciting, and it was perfect. She let out a small whimper of ecstasy, as she was oblivious to the two on looking space marines, it was just so wonderful.

"You are enjoying this," said Nidhiki, Kaida still had her eyes closed, but his voice was unmistakable.

"She's had enough, my lord," said Reptile.

"Enough?" questioned Nidhiki, but he didn't give Reptile time to reply, "I think she could use more."

"My lord, do not harm her," said Reptile starting to plead.

The sorcerer gave reptile a searching stare "... and I won't." He gave a casual hand gesture towards Kaida. "You have your own plans for her; so I won't use her up before you."

The sensation slowed and faded into nothing, Kaida opened her eyes and found herself on the floor with her hand in her trousers. She pulled it out immediately and checked her clothes before grabbing her cloak from the floor to hide her shame. She took deep breaths and tried to blank the whole experience from her mind.

"Get up, Kaida," ordered Reptile, she stood up and shuffled round to put Reptile between herself and the massive sorcerer. "You wanted to talk to _me_, my lord?" asked Reptile, Kaida could tell just by his tone of voice that he did not want to be there any more than she did.

"I did, the handmaidens were concerned about your plans, and I have to say that I shared their apprehension." Reptile just looked on, into Nidhiki's face, waiting for him to continue; maybe Nidhiki was expecting a response, he didn't get one. "Now I've... sorry, _we've_ seen everything. I'm happy to let you continue your plans with these tau; and I know the handmaidens' opinions will have changed as well."

"I am glad to hear that, my lord," Reptile said with releif "May we leave?"

"You can leave," said Nidhiki.

Reptile glanced over at Turo lying out cold on the floor, "What about him?"

"He belongs to Drekas, does he not?"

"He does," answered Reptile.

"Then he can do with him as he wills," said Nidhiki, "he will be waiting outside the door; tell him to come and get his tau."

Reptile presented his hand to Kaida, she held on, Reptile's soft grip was a comfort in the presence of the hulking sorcerer.

They left the room, hand in hand, Drekas was indeed waiting outside the door. Reptile relayed the sorcerer's order and Drekas entered Nidhiki's chamber. Reptile led Kaida further along the hallway, "Are you hurt?" he asked.

She didn't feel any physical pain, as the tiny breaks in the skin of her scalp had all but totally healed, "I don't think so," she stuttered; she couldn't help but wonder if her mind was left in as good a state.

"Good," said Reptile with relief.


	6. Chapter 6

Reptile and Kaida reached a big set of double doors at the end of the hallway. Reptile pushed them open to reveal a grand hall. There were intricately decorated long tables around the hall, each with big, ornate, metal chairs placed around them. Tall thin windows ran up nearly the whole height of the walls around the room, they had the look of stained glass that beautifully illustrated some majestic battle scene, grand triumph or a strange monster. Reptile led Kaida to sit at one of the tables; he pulled a chair back for her, and he sat on another, next to her. The chairs were big and designed for the long legs of space marines; Kaida's feet didn't even touch the floor.

"This is our banquet hall," he said. "We will sit down together to celebrate our victories with a grand meal." Kaida looked around at the tables; they each had about enough seats for a team of space marines to sit at, maybe each squad had its own table.

"Do you think this place is fitting for great warriors like us?" he asked.

Kaida thought about the great warriors that had sat around this table, Reptile's squad no doubt; the 'great warriors' that killed her team. "It's very impressive," she muttered, not giving Reptile a full answer.

Reptile let out a sigh and laid a hand on Kaida's shoulder, "Nidhiki was cruel to you; he should not have let you experience the full force of the Warp so soon."

Kaida didn't look at Reptile, she only thought about the experience the sorcerer had forced upon her. She felt like her body had been violated, and she shed a tear for the innocence she once held on to. At the same time though, she felt as though the entirety of reality, of all realities, had been opened up to her; she almost thought herself privileged.

"You must have many questions," said Reptile.

"Who were the other tau?"

"Other tau?" wondered Reptile out loud.

"The tau around Nidhiki's throne; who were they?" she clarified.

A brief moment of pondering passed, "Yes, I know who you are talking about." Reptile leaned close and whispered, "They were not normal tau, were they? They were beautiful and too perfect to be real, am I right?"

Kaida didn't reply, but he already knew the answer she would give.

"When they looked at you, did they disturb you, and reach into your very soul?" He still didn't need a reply from her, he just moved back and spoke, "They were not Tau at all, they appear to you as your most bestial and carnal desires. They are the handmaidens of Slaanesh."

This wasn't surprising; she knew they were not tau. "Hand maidens? Are they servants?" she pondered.

"In a way," explained Reptile, "but we are all servants to Slaanesh in a way."

Kaida had more to ask, "You said Nidhiki was very old. How old is he?"

"He is more than ten thousand Terran years old." replied Reptile.

Kaida's mind boggled at the thought. To be so old and to have seen so much must be an incredible thing; an incredible thing that she could not even dream of. "That's unbelievable," she said.

"Is it?" replied Reptile, "Astartes are so much more than mortal. We would live forever, but for the irony of the astartes."

"What Irony?"

"That we will never die of old age, and yet we live our entire lives in battle. In truth, very few loyalist astartes warriors live to four hundred years."

It made her sad, the thought of potentially limitless lives, being cut short by the very purpose they were created for. "How old are you?" asked Kaida, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"I am four hundred and fifty years old, and I have spent about two hundred and fifty years as a part of this chapter." He explained, "Those loyal to the God-Emperor do not get the luxury of choosing battles they will win; as a free chapter, we get those privileges."

"You were a part of another chapter?"

"Yes," said Reptile with a smile, "but that was a long time ago. I wish to change the topic of this conversation, as I fear I am going to end up boring you with my life story." Kaida thought the life story of a space marine might be one worth hearing, but she didn't stop him. "I want to know more about you," he said "So let's reverse the question you gave me. How old are you?"

Kaida was sure that Reptile didn't know tau time keeping so Kaida did a rough conversion in her head. "I think I'm fourteen Terran years old."

"So young!" commented Repile. "Is that a normal age for a tau warrior?"

"Yes," said Kaida, "We mature faster than humans."

"We must seem ancient to you," said Reptile. "I wonder, do you have a partner, or a mate?"

Kaida was again nervous about where Reptile was taking this, but she thought that it would make no difference either way whether she told Reptile the truth or not. "I do not have a partner. We don't have time for romance when we are out on campaign."

"And what does tau romance entail?"

"Well... uh... you..." the young tau struggled to find the right answer for the question, "I mean... we just..."

"Forget I asked," smiled Reptile, "Would you join us here for dinner later on? It will be a great banquet and the best food will be served."

"Is that human romance?" asked Kaida.

"Not at all; this table will be surrounded by the battle brothers of my unit, but I would be very pleased if you would join us."

To be dining at the table of the ones who defeated her in battle, not many could say that they have done that; but she was warming to Reptile. The fear and loathing that she had once felt towards him was gone. She was starting to feel a bit of affection for the super human. Whatever happened she needed to be fed, she hadn't eaten since before the battle and was very hungry.

"If you don't dine with us then you will eat with the slaves down below," explained Reptile.

She thought it would be better if she distanced herself from the human slaves. Not because she was scared of them any more than the marines, but because if she associated with them she might be considered to be on the same level by others on the ship. It was best to stay on as high a standing as possible with the marines, especially Reptile. "I'll sit with you," she replied.

"Wonderful" commented Reptile. "I know tau diets are not too different to human diets, so you should be able to enjoy everything on offer, and don't worry about not being able to eat as much as us. There are ways to enjoy all the excesses, even beyond the point that our bodies would have us stop."

* * *

Reptile took Kaida down to the bowels of the ship, to a small room, not a cabin, it was a medical room of some kind. There were vials and syringes adorning shelves all around the walls of the dark and dreary place. The one "bed" held a body that was covered by a sheet. The same size as a human, Kaida wondered if this was how they treated their dead slaves. A marine was standing next to the bed, he had no helmet on and Kaida could see madness in his eyes. He had a wide eyed stare that never blinked and a grin that never faded, constantly fixed on Kaida; no matter where she moved his stare followed, never blinking.

"Good day, Jeguda," said Reptile. Jeguda was a name that Kaida remembered; he was mentioned as being given the fourth prisoner, the fire warrior with the injured arm.

"Yes," replied the space marine, "it is a very good day." He was shaking with excitement, "A very, very, very, VERY good day. First I was given an exquisite gift in the form of a member of the tau species. It was a little bit damaged but I fixed that problem." Jeguda looked down at Kaida again, relishing whatever strange act he was envisioning. "Now you, one of the most elegant and beautiful of all the astartes on this vessel bring me another example of the Tau species that eclipses the one I already have in my possession." He bit his lip in excitement, drawing a small amount of blood.

"I'm glad you like her," said Reptile, "but she is mine."

The grin did not fade from Jeguda's face, he just turned his gaze fully on Reptile, "Then you must be here to see what I have done with my tau."

"I had a feeling you would do something remarkable," replied Reptile.

"Your intuition serves you well," said Jeguda. He stood at one end of the bed with his hands on the sheet, ready to pull it away to reveal what was underneath. "I am very proud of this." Jeguda gave the sheet a tug to unveil what was underneath; a tangle of blue meat and black metallic tubes and pipes interwoven in a display of seamless surgeons' craft. It took a moment for Kaida to realise that what she was looking at was the remains of the fire warrior. Eyes wide, she inhaled sharply and covered her mouth. His arms were gone, and the gaps where they should be were sealed. A complex array of wires and pipes that were intruding into different places on his torso, his head and around his neck connected him to a twisted engine situated underneath the table on which he was laid. The fire warrior's eyes were closed, but not as if dead, his naked, breathless and still body gave the impression that he was sleeping.

"Is he alive?" asked Kaida, stunned and fixed on the sight of one of her kind in such a disfigured state.

"Oh, yes, quite alive, young tau," said Jeguda, "Quite alive." Jeguda hopped round to the opposite side of the table and reached down to the machine under the fire warrior.

Without warning the fire warrior violently convulsed into life, he arched his back and appeared to scream, but his scream was not of a living thing. The engine was forcing it's sounds though the body of the fire warrior, as the pitch and the tone of the sound changed, so too did the angle of the tau's spine and the expression of pain that was stretched across his face; twisted and contorted as if the sound that was coming out of him was physically grinding at his senses.

Kaida held her hands up to her head to block out the noise, it was piercing and painful, she could feel the warped vibrations writhe in the air around her. The intricate details that were interwoven into the misshapen noise were elaborately crafted; and with each new note and pitch that was sent through the tau, and each new position of exquisite agony there was the evidence of a true artist. And then, there was no noise, he and the machine were silent and still; like the machine commanded the tau to stop.

"Very good!" said Reptile with a smile. "I'm impressed."

"Thank you," replied Jeguda, "I could do the same for your friend, if you like."

Kaida moved behind Reptile a little, seeking comfort.

"I appreciate your work, Jeguda, I really do," insisted Reptile, "but Kaida has more ahead of her."

Kaida had her eyes fixed on the mutilated fire warrior, thinking of the pain he might be in, or if he was asleep, what mad and warped dreams he may be experiencing. "Why did you do this?" she murmured, not really aiming her question at anyone, or even expecting an answer.

Jeguda was taken aback by the very notion of the question. "Did you not hear the glorious, wondrous sound I have created?"

Reptile understood the distress Kaida might be feeling, he knelt down, close to her eye level and asked, "Was he your friend?"

Kaida didn't know him, the only experience she had with him was when they met briefly in the cabin, "I didn't even know his name."

"How can you care so much for someone that you don't even know?" asked Reptile.

"I just..." Kaida thought back, this fire warrior had asked why she had no battle scars, no wounds from battle, he was questioning her honour. He had no idea what she went through and he has the nerve to question it, just because he received a small battle wound. Kaida couldn't justify her concern for the warrior.

Reptile stood up again and said to Jeguda, "Don't keep it too long."

"Why?" came the reply, "are you enjoying the company of these aliens too much?"

Reptile glanced down at Kaida briefly, "You could say that. But you will get bored of the sound eventually, Jeguda, and there is no need to keep it around if you're not using it."

* * *

Leaving Jeguda's room, Reptile remained quiet, as they walked up the hall, hand in hand. Kaida had become accustomed to holding on to Reptile, and just accepted it. Reptile was a known quantity, she was more familiar with him than anyone else on the ship, and she felt safe with him. The strong astartes warrior acted as her guardian, and she was assured that every time another space marine, or a slave passed them in the hallway, Reptile would protect her, if he needed to.

"How do you feel about what you just saw?" he asked.

"I don't know," replied Kaida.

"No?"

"I thought I felt pity for him," she lowered her volume, "at first..." she paused in her answer, as if she was ashamed of what she was going to say.

"Enjoying the sound that was created does not make you a traitor to your species." Kaida looked up at him. "It shows that your mind can break through the taboos that are set into your brain by the society of your upbringing. Enjoying the sound shows that you have a free mind, capable of enjoying the most extreme of artwork presented to you, no matter what was used to create it."

"That's not it," said Kaida.

"Then what?"

"I'm worried that my pity turned into feelings of hatred; for the fire warrior I mean."

"I see, did you have a history with this fire warrior?"

"No, I mean, not really. He only ever said one thing to me; he believed I was a coward."

Reptile stopped and kneeled down to her, he could see that there was self doubt in her eyes. "I would never consider you a coward, Kaida. I saw the way you fought until there was no point in fighting any more, and I have been witness to how your soul is embracing an entirely new fate; that takes great bravery indeed."

Kaida was very puzzled by what Reptile was saying, "What do you mean?"

"You will see, Kaida."


	7. Chapter 7

Reptile led Kaida back to the banquet hall; most of the tables were occupied by different space marine teams. Soft and beautiful music played by plucked strings wafted through the air, adding a serene atmosphere to the whole place. Kaida felt more at ease here that she had done in any of the other rooms during her stay.

The table the two of them were sitting at beforehand was occupied by ten marines; Kaida had no doubt that these were the marines Kaida was fighting in the battle. There were two empty seats at the table, one at the head, presumably for Reptile; the other empty seat was between two other marines.

"This is my squad," said Reptile. He led Kaida by the hand to the seat between two marines and moved the chair out for her, only to push her up to the table when she was seated; there was an empty plate set on the table in front of her with a knife and fork laid either side of it. "This is Narcius," reptile indicated by placing a hand on the shoulder of the marine to her left, "and this is brother Rubex," the marine on Kaida's right. "They are good company; do not be worried about talking with them." Reptile left her and went to sit at the head of the table.

Kaida kept to herself at first, she didn't want to disturb the marines, they looked like they were already in conversations with their brothers; both Narcius and Rubex faced away from her. They must think very little of a small tau warrior like herself.

She overheard the conversation Rubex was having. "I've got some good frequencies," said Rubex.

"What are they?" asked the other marine, who was ghostly white in complexion.

"One one seven, two point six, two thousand two hundred and forty five..."

"Yeah," said the marine eagerly.

Rubex continued "Three thousand and thirty two, four hundred."

"Four hundred?" asked the pale skinned marine, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah," replied Rubex while nodding, Kaida could tell he had an eager smile on his face without needing to see it.

"Show it to me," said the pale marine.

Without any hesitation Rubex and the other marine pushed their chairs away from the table and left the hall. Kaida then turned to listen in on the conversation Narcius was having with the marine beside him.

"Squad Esskrimar are talking about that time we had together with the eldar," said the other marine.

"Good memories, brother," was the metallic sounding response from Narcius. His voice sounded familiar, she remembered the harsh metallic tones from after the battle, but she thought the distortion came from his helmet. Kaida wondered why he sounded like that, she could after all only see him from the back and hadn't yet seen his face.

Kaida's curiosity got the better of her, "You fought with the eldar?"

Narcius turned around to face Kaida his appearance nearly made Kaida move back in repulsion, his mouth, nose and much of his lower face were gone and replaced by a black and silver speaker. He said to her, "We've fought against eldar."

The other marine looked over Narcius' shoulder to catch sight of the tau before saying, "We don't really get on with the eldar. For some reason they don't like Slaanesh." He sounded sarcastic.

"Why don't they like Slaanesh?" asked Kaida genuinely ignorant. The marines would probably consider this common knowledge.

"That is a history lesson for another time, young tau," said Narcius before turning back to his friend to continue his conversation.

Kaida felt as though it was her task to talk to someone, so she made the statement, "We fought beside eldar once." This got Narcius' attention; he turned to face her again. "They helped our cadre fight the orks," she finished.

"You know there are eldar that do not live in craftworlds?" asked Narcius.

"There are some that have settled on planets, I know that," she said.

"I don't mean them; I mean the webway eldar."

"What's a webway Eldar?"

"I don't want to get into details, but behind every eldar in the galaxy is a dark, blood crazed psychopath who thinks nothing more of its victims than tools to use; and they have nothing but hate for our kind."

"They hate astartes?" she asked.

"They hate the followers of Slaanesh."

Narcius turned back to his friend; he had no interest in talking to Kaida and as there was no one on the other side of her she looked around the hall to see all the different space marine squads. Not many of them had what she would consider a normal human face; most of them had altered their appearance in some way; some of them were covered in elaborate tattoos, some had horns, and some had parts of their head replaced by some kind of bionic implant. She spotted Turo in the company of another space marine squad; he couldn't talk to them but he had more attention on him than Kaida did. Most of the marines were still in their armour, and she realised something, every set of armour was different for every marine; they had personalised it with patterns painted onto it or crafted gold reliefs seamlessly blended into the construction.

This was in stark contrast to the tau army; every member of the Fire Caste wore a strict uniform. There was no individuality at all; indeed it was quite hard to tell who was who once everyone had put on their full battle gear.

She noticed the slave playing the music, it was a woman, she slowly swayed her head from side to side to keep perfect rhythm with the music; she was a masterful player of the harp, every string that was plucked was done so with such delicacy and poise, that it looked as though her hands were merely floating across the strings. She spotted the food for the banquet being brought by slaves, followed by more slaves carrying jugs for the accompanying drink.

The slaves came to her table and placed different dishes of extravagantly prepared food along its middle. The food looked beautiful, it was clear that someone had spent a lot of time preparing it. Even the prepared animals looked like a delight; Kaida had never eaten much meat in her life time, but she could feel her mouth salivating at the thought of tucking into what lay before her. She didn't want to get any unwanted attention from the marines, so she didn't reach to put anything on her plate until one of them did so first. The slaves poured the jugs of what looked like wine into the goblets that accompanied each plate.

Reptile walked round to Rubex's empty seat. "I see that you're having trouble making conversation." He then pulled the seat out and sat beside her. "This is better than your usual rations, I assume."

"I don't know where to start," she said.

Reptile proceeded to tell her all the parts of the feast that would go together the best, and used his far greater reach to get her all that was on offer; he then filled his own plate. Kaida looked at what was in front of her now; there was no way she could eat it all, and she really didn't want to leave anything on the plate, in case someone took it as an insult. She started eating and it was incredible; everything was cooked to perfection. Being a member of the fire caste, fine dining was not something she was used to; and how to cook such extravagant food was as much a mystery to her as the warp itself.

"Do you like it?" asked Reptile.

"It's perfect," said Kaida halfway through chewing a piece of meat.

"This is what we eat when there is cause to celebrate," he explained, "and we achieved a fine victory over the Tau Empire. Your people fight well and we lost some of our dearest battle brothers."

Reptile looked around and saw that Rubex and his friend were coming back to the table. He approached and said, "You are in my seat, Reptile."

"You can take mine," Reptile replied.

"I do not want to sit in your seat, brother, I wish to sit with Kasadus."

"Very well brother, I will move," and reptile got up and whispered in Kaida's ear, "eat up, there is one more thing that I need to show you." He then went back to the head of the table.

Kaida continued eating; none of the marines were talking to her and she felt more and more like she wasn't wanted. An idea started growing in her head as to why none of the marines were interested in her, so she had to investigate. "Whose seat am I in?" she asked to anyone who would be willing to answer.

A marine sitting opposite her gave a reply, "That seat once belonged to Eligos." The marine spoke with bitterness.

"Was he a great warrior?" asked Kaida hoping to seem as respectful as she could.

"He was an artist on the field of battle and he had left a four thousand year tapestry of exquisite devotion to the Prince of Pleasure. And now you sit where he once did, as if you are our equal."

"Your squad leader put me here," said Kaida, trying to defend herself.

"He did," said the marine, "Reptile is as fine a champion any of us could ask for, but he is young. Just because we will follow him into battle, does not mean we need to like everything he does."

Rubex turned to Kaida and said to her, "You are a beautiful little being, tau, but Eligos was a testament to the beauty Slaanesh bestows on his most devoted followers."

Kaida didn't know what to say, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Rubex looked away for a moment, and then looked back at Kaida with a smile on his face, long black hair whipping round as he turned. "Have you enjoyed your stay on our ship?" He didn't leave time for Kaida to think about an answer, "you have spent your time with Reptile have you not? And you have shared things?" Rubex's smile grew wider, "All the time you have spent together, have you ever considered why he is called 'Reptile'?"

Kaida never thought about it before, she guessed 'Reptile' was a normal Gothic name.

"It's a rather strange name for an astartes, don't you think? Shall I tell you the reason behind it?"

Kaida nodded.

"Then allow me to illuminate you," said Rubex, "We were fighting web way eldar; all had been killed or routed, except for the archon and his bodyguards."

"I remember it well," said the pale marine beside Rubex, "Doped up on drugs, believing themselves invulnerable; they marched into a massacre."

"Yes," said Rubex. "They had been defeated except for the archon and his sslyth bodyguards. The sslyth had decided that the tactical pitiful direction of the archon had not been to their satisfaction; so they killed him right there on the battlefield. Knowing that they would not win the fight against us, they surrendered. Reptile, who was then..."

"That's enough," said Reptile from across the table, "that tale is not yours to share."

"Apologies, brother," commented Rubex, "I did not realise you did not want it told."

"It does not need to be told," said Reptile.

A look of disappointment from Rubex was followed by him turning away from Kaida. She then looked around to Narcius who had removed his speaker and was putting food through the gap and into a maw of vertically aligned teeth. She turned back to Rubex, being the only marine to show real interest in talking to her, "So is Reptile not the oldest marine in the unit?" she asked, "In the fire caste, the veterans are always the ones to lead the teams into battle."

"No," replied Rubex, "Some of us are thousands of years old, but Reptile has had plenty of battle experience. You could say that we are all qualified to lead the team; we just decided that he was the best man for the job."

The pale marine beside Rubex spoke, "I have ate too much beforehand, my love; I will be back soon to continue the feast." Rubex turned and gave the pale marine a kiss before letting him leave the banquet hall.

She continued eating and drinking with Rubex, they talked about the tau, their customs and how they differ from the customs she had seen on the ship. She then heard a familiar whisper in her ear, "It's time for you and I to leave the banquet," she looked round to see Reptile standing behind her.

Rubex turned round to speak to him "Brother Reptile, may I apologise for my earlier insistence that I sit here. Your tau friend is a delight; I can see why you would want to be with her."

"No offence taken," said Reptile. "I know how close you are to Kasadus."

"And I'm sorry for sharing the story of you and the sslyth. It wasn't my place."

"Let it be off your conscience, brother, no harm has come of it."

"Then may I request something from you, if it is not too much trouble."

"What is it?" asked reptile, puzzled.

"A kiss," said Rubex. "Not from you of course, I've felt the warmth of an astartes too much in my life time. I ask for a kiss from your gorgeous tau friend."

Reptile looked at Kaida and said, "It's up to you, Kaida."

"Kaida," said Rubex softly, while looking into her eyes, "Just a small token of appreciation, a leaving gift, for me to remember your company by."

Rubex had given her his time in the form of conversation when the marines around her had dismissed her. In the end, he had made her feel welcome. She got up to her knees to reach the cheek of the astartes and simply pecked it with her lips pursed. His skin was rough, dry, and cold.

As she moved away, he gave her a warm smile "I hope this is only the start of a wonderful relationship."

She quickly gave a smile of her own before climbing out of her chair and holding onto Reptile's hand to leave the hall together, with Rubex's eyes following until they were gone.


	8. Chapter 8

"Where are we going?" asked Kaida.

Reptile said nothing to her; 'is he annoyed at me for giving Rubex a kiss?' she wondered, but soon determined that it was a silly thing to consider, a space marine wouldn't care about such things.

This walk seemed longer than the other walks they had taken together in the ship, like all her time on the ship had been building up to this moment. They kept walking until they came to a cabin door with Esskrimar standing outside it. "Why are you not enjoying the feast?" asked Reptile, "Your squad is missing your company."

"There are many feasts on this ship, Reptile, but this is going to be unique." Esskrimar replied with a smile.

"It's good to see you have your pistol," remarked Reptile, "I trust there is not too much damage."

"I applied the usual, delicacy and care that I always do, dear brother," said Esskrimar, his smile growing, Reptile smiled as well.

Reptile opened the door to the room and led Kaida inside. Inside slumped against the side of the bed was the thin naked body of a tau. It was Aun'Esa, she did not have a fit well toned body trained for combat even though it looked like it had been in a fight; her body was covered in cuts and bruises and was draped over edge of the bed like some discarded clothes. Kaida was horrified at the state she found the ethereal in and was immediately overcome with empathy for her immortally wise leader.

The two space marines watched on as the ethereal slowly raised her head to look at Kaida. "This is your symbol for the greater good," said Reptile, "frail and weak."

Aun'Esa took a deep breath and began to speak in tau, "These are followers of chaos; they have no honour and deserve nothing more from us than hate." Aun'Esa looked up at the marines, "The only way we can further the greater good from here is to kill them all."

Reptile raised his eyebrows and asked Kaida, "Do you believe her?" Reptile understood fully what the ethereal had said, he understood the tau language; but he continued to speak in gothic. "Is the greater good a worthy cause for you to lay your life down? If you think so, your gun is on the bed; take it and shoot me, I am unarmoured, and would surely be killed." Kaida's gun from the battle was indeed on the bed, she had been so fixated on Aun'Esa's apparent suffering that she had failed to notice. Kaida grabbed the pulse carbine and aimed it at Reptile's chest. Teeth gritted and tears running down her face; she did not kill him.

"The greater good is a lie, can't you see." explained Reptile. "It claims to promise peace and prosperity for all who accept it; but what it offers you in reality is a bleak future of servitude and war, and all for nothing but the pride of the Ethereal Caste."

"No!" spluttered the ethereal, mustering enough strength to raise her voice. "The cause of the greater good is right and just, these marines use slaves and know nothing of justice and equality."

"Those slaves were raised in imperial hive cities; their lives are better now than they ever have been, as is everyone's life on this ship that has known a previous existence."

"Shoot them! Pathfinder," cried Aun'esa, "do not hesitate, shoot them, now!"

"That's very aggressive," commented Esskrimar, he had his hand resting on the bolt pistol by his side.

"If you shoot me now, we both die and all your greater good will have accomplished is two more corpses."

"Don't listen to the marines, pathfinder," argued the ethereal, "They are poisoning your mind. You need to kill them."

"Pathfinder?" queried Reptile, "You have great respect from your warriors, ethereal, they must be close to you," Aun'esa did not reply, she only glared at Reptile, as a hated enemy. "Why is it that you do not know their names?"

Kaida couldn't believe it, all the times Aun'Esa sent her into battle; when they were being held captive together, when she took Kaida's cloak away, never had she wanted to know Kaida's name. 'She doesn't care about me,' thought Kaida, 'she never did.'

"Shoot them! Now! I am your ethereal and you will obey my order!" were more painfully forced words from the ethereal; but Kaida lowered her gun. "What are you doing?" panicked the ethereal, "Do not ignore me, pathfinder!"

Kaida lifted her gun above her head and brought it slamming down on the Ethereal's broken body with a scream of rage. She could feel the crunch of bone under her gun, as Aun'Esa fell from the bed and was now sprawled on the floor. Kaida lifted her gun up and slammed it onto the ethereal's body again; a gasp of pain was heard seeping out from Aun'Esa's bloodied lips. Kaida lifted the gun once more and smashed it into the ethereal's head. There was no more movement, no more life; the pathfinder had killed the ethereal.

"What have I done?" exclaimed Kaida; the fiery rage she felt not a moment ago turned into mournful regret that built up in her throat quicker than any emotion she had ever felt before.

"You have freed yourself," claimed Reptile.

Kaida lifted her gun and pointed it at Reptile once more.

"Do not fight me, Kaida," he said with a smile. "If you come with me now you can be a part of something wonderful; you can join us and find the greatest pleasures you can imagine, even some that are beyond mortal comprehension. The ethereals used you and made you slaves to a cause you cannot hope to achieve; we have simple goals and a master who demands nothing more from us than to praise him with the wildest of excesses. Lay down your gun, do not fight me, embrace me," he dropped to one knee and held his arms out wide, "and we will embrace you as a member of our family."

Kaida, undone by tears, dropped her gun and walked arms wide into the warm embrace of the marine. "You will grow with Slaanesh," whispered Reptile, "and he will reward you with your heart's greatest desires."

* * *

Reptile then lifted Kaida in his arms and carried her to his cabin, where he set her on the bed before closing the door to leave them alone together.

"It was a brave thing you did there," said Reptile, "I can only imagine what it must be like for you."

"It was horrible," whimpered Kaida, she looked up at Reptile with a nervous smile, "but it's all over now. There are no more lies."

"There will always be lies, Kaida," explained Reptile, "the galaxy is full of lies, but chaos is truth. It is the one constant that will always be a fact and will always be the outcome. It's not something to be resisted; by giving ourselves to chaos we are devoting ourselves to the one cause that will always prevail."

Kaida looked at Reptile and spoke her mind, "That's not the whole reason for your devotion to Slaanesh, is it?"

"You're right," conceded Reptile with a smile, "the personal rewards are quite exquisite."

Kaida's mind was awash with thoughts of the death of Aun'Esa, of discarding the Tau Empire completely, and thoughts of her greatest desires. She felt like she had been given a new life, the ethereal was dead and she was free to strive for whatever she wanted. There was only one way to start this new life, by cementing her relationship with the one who had shown her into it. She began to undress for him, she pulled her boots off, then her top.

Reptile knew exactly what she was doing; he sat on the bed beside her and pulled her vest over her head. Kaida watched and felt Reptile's hands and eyes wonder all over her torso, and revelled in the moment before pulling off her trousers, then sliding her shorts down her legs for Reptile to pluck them off her foot and leave the tau totally naked. Reptile stood up and lifted his entire robe off his body to reveal the full muscular magnificence that Kaida had seen before.

Reptile sat on the bed again, Kaida reached out to him, he took her hand, she then leapt onto him; and the pleasures of Slaanesh were experienced by both to their fullest.

* * *

"Will you be a part of our ship and an associate of this chapter?" asked Reptile to a naked Kaida sitting on the floor.

"Yes," she panted, still getting her breath back, "with all my heart, yes."

"Will you fight with us?"

"I will," said Kaida, "but I cannot fight alone. If you capture other tau, I will convince them to leave the ethereals' lies behind." She then gave a big smile and looked directly at him, "I might need some help convincing them."

Reptile sat on the floor beside her and held out his hand to reveal a small, gold trinket, a symbol of some kind made of gold and intricately detailed with patterns and tiny jewels. It was attached to a loop of silver chain so fine that Kaida felt she would break it if she was to handle it. Reptile could see in her eyes that she was enchanted by it. He slipped it round her neck and told her, "This is the icon of Slaanesh, wear it always as a symbol of your devotion to him, and our chapter."

"I will," she said, admiring the fine craftsmanship of the icon, "Thank you." Kaida smiled, looked up at Reptile and said, "Let's go again, I want more of Slaanesh's pleasures."

* * *

-The End-

* * *

**Authors Note**: That's this short story over. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Please take a moment to write a review for me, it's not much but as the writer I love to see what people thought of it, and of course, I always want to improve.

It may not be totally over for this story; I could be convinced to write an epilogue.


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